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I guess for some people it is. I continue to push ahead with mostly the same routine as before. Surprisingly little has changed for me actually lol.
I think it's a new virus designed to knock down the human population. Sort of a "warning shot fired across the bow" that if countries around the world aren't going to do anything to reign in their nation's population and curb their consumption of natural resources, that the planet is going to reign us in -- personally.
It's evolution, natural selection, etc. It's the planet's way of defending itself against a species (us) with over 7 billion invasive members that are wrecking everything else on the planet. It's like Mother Nature is saying: "I liked you humans better when there were only 3 billion of you around."
Well, we've seen strikes and lockouts before in sports. Restaurants have become drive-through affairs now. Work-from-home is now actually a thing rather than the empty promise that every employer makes during the interview process to try and woo candidates.
The way things were going, the Leafs were slowly getting back to 100% health and poised to face a Tampa team with an injured Stamkos. The first round would have been shaping up nicely for the Leafs (if you believe the team's somewhat unimpressive record is an indication of the injuries and not the skill level).
As it stands now, it would be a coin toss against Columbus. There's no history between these teams. Neither team has an advantage.

man what a memorable game.... I was up in Maine visiting my cousin and his new baby. my flight back to NYC was leaving in less than 1.5 hours when OT started. my niece was watching us screaming BOOOSHHH as Jokinen rolled to the net on the last shootout attempt and we flipped out when Boucher made that save.

2020 NHL draft profile: Why Jan Mysak is so intriguing
By Jordan Hall June 03, 2020 4:10 PM
2020 NHL DRAFT PROFILES
Possible sleeper in draft fits Flyers' mold
Remind you of anyone? Winger with shot, 'unique size' will be there for Flyers
Finnish center already playing against pros could interest Flyers in draft
Could Flyers go the USNTDP route again with this skilled, slick center?
A winger who has 'lots of juice and generates offense' should attract Flyers
Prospect who relishes physicality could be an option for Flyers in draft
'A gamer' with impressive vision at center would make sense for Flyers
Keep an eye on a center with 200-foot bite and Flyers in the family
The entire picture for the 2020 NHL draft remains cloudy with the ongoing suspension of the 2019-20 regular season because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Where will the Flyers be picking? When and how will the draft be held? Those questions are currently unanswered.
The Flyers hold seven total selections and, as of right now, are slotted with the 26th overall pick.
“I think it’s a decent draft — I don’t know if it’s top end," Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said April 25 in a phone interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia. "The top 10, 12 guys look like pretty high end. There’s a bit of a drop-off, but there’s some depth to the draft for a couple of rounds. We don’t know totally where we’re picking, but we have an idea. We have some guys targeted we feel we would be very happy with in the top couple of rounds and then we still have some work to do to clean up the mid-to-later-round picks.
"Obviously you’d want the big, scoring, playmaking center, anybody does. We’re in a position where we’ll likely be taking the best player available.
"Realistically the players you draft now are two or three years down the road, best-case scenario. Some cases you get surprised. But by then, your team needs are different. We’ll do the best we can, we have an idea of where our holes are going forward and places where we certainly want to add depth to, whether it’s center or scoring winger or defense, we’ll see what happens. We’ll prepare, we weigh guys against each other, the pros and cons and we’ll do the best we can there.”
This month, we'll continue to break down options for the Flyers at No. 26.
Jan Mysak
Position: Center/winger Height: 5-foot-10 Weight: 175 Shoots: Left Team: Hamilton Bulldogs
Scouting report
There is a ton of intrigue to Mysak, an underager with innate scoring ability and a precocious hockey IQ.
After scoring nine points (five goals, four assists) through 26 games playing against grown men for the Czech Extraliga's HC Litvinov, the 17-year-old transitioned to the OHL and punctuated his draft year. Mysak took off with Hamilton, delivering a pair of hat tricks and 25 points (15 goals, 10 assists) in 22 games. The Czech Republic native played a much bigger role at the junior level, especially with the Bulldogs losing center Jan Jenik to a season-ending injury in December.
Mysak understands the art of scoring. He might not be the flashiest or smoothest, but he's strong, quick and knows how to dissect the opposition. He can also play down the middle and on the wing, versatility that attracts NHL teams in the first round.
“Anybody that can play center is good," Flahr said about Mysak on May 12.
“He had the reputation coming into the year. He played with men the first half, I saw him a number of times over there early. Just like any young player playing with men, he played and worked and did the little things, but wasn’t overly productive, just kind of played safe and played a role. Then midseason, he came over.
"The way it worked with Jenik going down to injury, he stepped right in on the top line and produced right off the bat. He played center when I saw him and he’s played wing overseas when I saw him, but real hard-working, honest, two-way game. You can argue whether he’s more of a shooter or a playmaker, but he’s got some rawness. I think coming over was real good for him.”
Fit with Flyers
The Flyers very well could be eyeing the best center available during the first round after selecting three defensemen, three wingers and a goalie last summer. It's a premium position and every organization is looking for greater depth down the middle. The fact that Mysak can player center and winger is a bonus.
So, will he be available for the Flyers? It's difficult to say.
He's the NHL Central Scouting's 28th-ranked North American skater and TSN's Craig Button rates him as the 34th-best player in the draft. However, in an excellent film review, The Athletic's Scott Wheeler sees Mysak as one of the top forwards among this class.
Some teams might want to see more from Mysak. Some teams might be completely sold.
If the Flyers end up picking at No. 26 overall and Mysak is available, he'd be hard to pass up.
brandon_taylor_proam_images_jan_mysak.jpg
(Brandon Taylor/ProAm Images)

They have limited amount of contracts to hand out and have 6 defensemen already signed or expected to play this upcoming season.
And from reports they just don't project him to ever be a career minor leaguer. And they are trying to signed Wyatt Kalnyuk who i would expect to be a huge upgrade to the Phantoms so that would give them 7 bodies.
Zamula
Kalnyuk
Wylie
Hogberg
Prosser
Bigras
Wotherspoon
Plus they need to resign Friedman and maybe try and save a spot for Morin.

Goaltending is probably the only thing the Wild has ever had (at times) that approached elite in status. Yet not as much from one individual as it was from a tandem. But eventually the organization went to a more traditional...starter and back up kind of deployment.

I just think he'll see an old tired team play against Vancouver. And beyond Fiala he won't see much potential help and be like...what the hell am i getting myself into. He has zilch to prove in the KHL; if he really wants to be in the NHL as fast as possible he should sign with the Wild. But he hasn't...which leads me to think he might be having second thoughts.

By Jordan Hall May 27, 2020 8:00 PM
INSIDE THE TURNAROUND
An inside look at how Flyers have built 2019-20 turnaround
With perspective from the players and head coach, let's take an inside look at how the Flyers have built their 2019-20 turnaround. By Jordan Hall
The round-robin tournament of the NHL's 24-team return-to-play format will represent different kinds of importance for the fourth-seeded Flyers.
Firstly, they couldn't ask for a better tune-up ahead of their first-round series. They'll play each of the Eastern Conference's top three teams once before meeting their opening-round opponent.
Secondly, those dates with the East's best could help the Flyers climb even more. The total points accumulated in the round-robin tournament will determine the conference's seed Nos. 1-4. If there are ties after the set of games, which will feature regular-season overtime and shootout rules, the regular-season points percentages of each club will serve as the tiebreaker.
How could the Flyers fare in the round-robin portion and what would it ultimately mean for their outlook in the 24-team setup?
Here are three factors to note:
1. Can Flyers win round robin?
They shouldn't be considered heavy underdogs. The Flyers will be confident in their opportunity to improve their seed after going 2-1-0 against the top-seeded Bruins during the regular season and 3-0-1 vs. the third-seeded Capitals. The second-seeded Lightning were the one club that gave the Flyers trouble. The Flyers dropped two games in regulation to Tampa Bay, but one was a 1-0 defeat and the other was a chippy 5-3 loss with an empty-netter in the final 22 seconds.
The Flyers have a goalie who keeps them in games and a group that held its own with the fellow top seeds in major statistical categories:
Goals per game
Lightning — 3.47
Capitals — 3.42
Flyers — 3.29
Bruins — 3.24
Goals against per game
Bruins — 2.39
Flyers — 2.77
Lightning — 2.77
Capitals — 3.07
Power play percentage
Bruins — 25.2
Lightning — 23.1
Flyers — 20.8
Capitals — 19.4
Penalty kill percentage
Bruins — 84.3
Capitals — 82.6
Flyers — 81.8
Lightning — 81.4
2. Wait, would they want to climb?
It's an interesting question right now because the NHL and NHLPA are undetermined on the format for the first and second rounds, whether it be bracketed or reseeding after the qualifying round.
That's a huge question.
Say the Flyers stayed at No. 4 in a bracket-style scenario and the 12th-seeded Canadiens knocked off the fifth-seeded Penguins, the Flyers would face Montreal. On paper, that would be a pretty favorable matchup against the lowest seed in the East. Whereas the No. 1 seed in the conference would face the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 matchup.
If the league instead agrees to reseed, such a scenario would see the No. 1 seed face the Canadiens during the first round, whereas the Flyers, as the fourth seed, would get the highest remaining seed to advance from the qualifying round.
When/if the Flyers play round-robin games, the NHL will have made a decision on the format for the first and second rounds. Right now, just about everything is undecided for the Flyers.
3. The good thing?
The Flyers can't hurt themselves in the round robin. As the lowest seed of the four, they can only improve their seed. If the Flyers struggle, they stay put at No. 4 and at least played three competitive warmup games for their first-round series.
The Flyers went 22-8-5 against the Eastern Conference playoff field during the regular season, so they'll like their chances against whichever team they draw.

Format announced yesterday. And I think the Wings lose again...well, they have at least an 81.5% chance of losing again.
This format doesn’t help us AT ALL! In fact, it hurts us more than it helps us. Other teams get more time for prospects to train and for young developing players to get competitive playing time and experience. Oh and if a Cup run doesn’t work out, they can still get Lafreniere!
Our players get better at Call of Duty.
And our odds of getting the help we really need didn’t change at all—still 18.5%.
In other words, we still have an 81.5% chance of disappointment, and more than a coin flip chance of TOTAL disappointment on June 26–where we would get the 4th pick. What a fitting end to the year we have had that would be!
I still say the odds of the worst team getting the first pick are too low as they stand. And don’t try to say I’m only saying it because my team is in that position. I have said it for the last few seasons. The balance needs to swing back the other way.
75% chance of not getting the first pick should be enough disincentive for tanking. Hard for me to justify higher odds than that.
Wish we had better news.
And now back to our regularly-scheduled coverage of Coronavirus.

The wife and i were in Toronto a decade ago, the Senators were on their way down, Toronto was pretty bad, the two of them played the night before, (I think the Leafs won) it was the only thing on the news for the next day, i mean, THE ONLY THING. A meaningless game between two teams that everyone knew were going nowhere and it was inspected digested rejected infected selected on all three channels that we got at our hotel. I was stunned, i think that was the moment that i realized that Minny may be the State of Hockey, Motown may be Hockeytown but Canada is a different animal. If the Wings play a hard fought game against say, Nashville, that night it might lead in sports but by the next day it is pretty much forgotten. I remember the Emery/Gerber debate beingdiscussed Ad nauseum on television as if it were Trump versus Biden/
In short, in the USA Hockey is sport, in Canada it is life.

Flyers seem to fire on all cylinders when Laughts is centering the 3rd line. Hopefully that does not change if and when Patrick comes back. Where do you put Patrick eventually. Top 2 C positions spoken for...and Patrick's first round status basically rules out a long term 4C designation...I'm pretty adamant about Laughts staying in the top 9 though...and FCs post punctuates this line of thinking.

@yave1964 This is pointed DIRECTLY at you!
Mock draft: Building three teams from the Red Wings’ 25-year playoff streak
The Athletic is subscription only. I enjoy the Red Wing coverage and analysis. But for the Red Wing geek, this is as good as it gets!
Custance, Burke and Bultman do a mock draft of any Wing that played during the 25-year streak to build three Red Wing teams that would theoretically play each other for a Cup. One caveat: You get the player at his peak AS A RED WING, not necessarily at his career peak with another squad.
After the draft, they show the teams to Darren McCarty for his take on the teams. And then they get a surprise pick from an unannounced guest which I will leave unnamed to not spoil the surprise!
If you want to read this and don’t have a subscription, text me privately.

That’s right. Peters was the coach at the time if I remember right. Had lunch with the team and all the other stuff that goes along with recruiting. My high school coach went there and ended up getting cut by the California Golden Seals

Our picks

As part of my season ticket holder benefits the Flyers invited me to a 10 year reunion of a handful of the 2010 players on a Zoom type system where we could see and hear all the players but they could not hear or see us (see screenshot at end of recap). It was hosted by Steve Coates and radio announcer Tim Saunders. In attendance were JVR, Scott Hartnell, Claude Giroux, Simon Gagne, Danny Briere, Ian laperriere, Kimmo Timonen, and Brian Boucher. The event lasted an hour and they discussed some of the behind the scenes stuff from the 2010 playoff run.

Firstly they discussed how they had been picked to go far at the beginning of the season and how they laid an egg early on which got Stevens fired. Coatsey and Saunders asked if the hiring of Lavvy made a huge difference and they tried to be diplomatic about it but said yes implicitly. Hartnell said that Stevens was all defense and that nobody likes to play defense and they all felt freed by Lavvy's offensive system to do their thing. As you can imagine they also highlighted that Stevens was very soft spoken and that Lavvy was very fiery which really inspired them. They also said the leadership of Pronger was huge. Harts said just the name gave them more confidence but also his big body and the leadership as well.

Then they went into a discussion about how the season was ending where they were losing 8 out of 11 down the stretch including one to the Rangers in game 81 of the season. The most interesting thing we learned about the last game of the season was that Lavvy anticipated that the Rags would play them tight and may even play for a shootout as they had Lundqvist in net and figured if they could get it to a shootout they would beat the Flyers in it (I myself certainly thought so when it got to the SO). Lavvy wanted them to be prepared for this so at practice he called Gagne, Giroux, Briere, JVR, Richards and Carter over to him and said he wanted them to study film of Lundqvist in the SO and pick a move that they planned to move and practice that move. They did so and Briere went out and executed is perfectly. Giroux on the other hand changed his mind in the middle of his attempt and then had nothing to shoot at so he just went 5 hole and was lucky that it went in. Boucher mentioned that he was so nervous before the game and really felt the pressure that afternoon. He also note that he couldnt stand Lundqvist's celebration at the end of Ranger wins where he taps his posts and then does a huge fist pump. Bouch witnessed it from the bench in the previous game and wanted to do it back to him if the Flyers won and when he made that last save his celebration was an attempt to emulate and mock it. Booch said he actually tripped up when trying to do it as he got up awkwardly from the save but that was the story behind his famous celebration.

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Okay, after listening to feedback (I do occasionally listen lol) I took a second crack at this stat.... and here's what I came up with:

To me, what was missing previously was a way to get defensive scores back UP again through continued playing time, so now it's here. It's like a "counter-balance" to allow defensive scores to rise.

With this recent improvement, there was no longer a need to add 100 to try and pretty up the scores. I left them as is and they fluctuate between positive and negative values, just like regular +/-..... but this is NO +/- !!! This is much closer (I hope) to what people have been looking for. It is quite literally DEFENCE..... just defence and nothing else.

Now, I know what people are going to say: "But guys are still being punished for offence..." (That comment makes me cringe.) No player is ever technically "punished" for offence. They're just not able to boost their DEFENCE rating by scoring points. That's it. If you're the worst defensive player in the league, you can't score 100 goals, boost your stat, and then turn around and claim a Selke trophy. This isn't +/-. Just like you can't erase ERRORS in baseball by hitting more home runs. It doesn't make sense. If you commit 50 errors in baseball, the only way you can get better is to stop making errors... and if you play long enough error-free, you will eventually raise your fielding percentage to a respectable level. But the bottom line is that you can't hit your way out of bad fielding stats.

(Whew!)

Okay, so how does this work now? It starts with the Minus stat (as described previously) but now I take TOI (Time On Ice in minutes) and divide it by 60. That value gets added to the score. So for every game you play without committing a "-", your defence score will go up. Notice that this accomplishes a few things: It sort of considers "quality of opposition" into the stat (because your best players play the most) but it also rewards the players who contribute the most to your team.

I still don't know if I have anything viable here, but it gives me a good feeling this time around.

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OK....some crazy stuff going on in Ave's land! The all time record for a rookie defensemen is 76 by the great Larry Murphy. Even Ray Bourque had under 70...he had 4th best with 65 rookie pts. Makar is on pace for 93. Staggering.
The scary part is he is doing this with Rantanen and Landeskog both out with serious injuries. Cales hockey sense is outrageous for a rookie...howitzer of a shot...wicked moves, agile and smart. He reminds me of Bourque as a rookie. He has 100 pt potential...as silly as that sounds in this day and age.

13 replies

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The defending Stanley Cup champion St Louis Blues have just received a dose of bad news. Teresenko, the superstar that helped the Blues hoist their first Cup, is now to be lost for 5 months due to shoulder surgery. If they can survive without him and still make the playoffs, it would seem he would return for that. I believe they are deep enough to do it.

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Small deal between the Canucks and the Senators today with possible large implications for both.

Vancouver gets: Taylor Pyatt, a 13th forward not much of a player. McKenna, an AHL goalie pressed into duty because of injuries to the Ottawa net and a 6th round pick.

Ottawa gets Anders Nilsson who in two years as a backup in Vancouver went 10-27 and Darren Archibald who has been a meh prospect forever now and who looks like he is just a body to even out the players involved.

A bunch of hot garbage in other words but it may be a sign of things to come for both.

First Ottawa seems almost certain to trade Craig Anderson at some point now and ride out the season with Nilsson in net. A contender wanting a veteran goalie will take a shot at him.
Vancouver likely will ship McKenna to the AHL and call up top prospect Thatcher Demko to share the net at the least and possibly become the primary starter after two very successful seasons with Utica in the AHL. Demko is a California boy, a big surfer looking dude who Benning has shown surprising patience with as he developed. Moving Nilsson clears the way for him to get his shot probably moving Markstrom to the backup role for the remaining of the season to see what Demko can do.

So a trade of junk for junk has implication for an aging brittle goalie and for a kid chomping at the bit wanting a shot.

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It's possible. But I think right now your biggest issue is timing. The Wild fired Fenton at a time is year where the replacement pool is such that if the candidate were any good, he'd already be working.

Leipold should get a lot of "credit" for badly bungling this situation (and it's on him if what you describe is accurate, and I think it is up an extent). His statements indicate this started at exit interviews.

First of all, if you did any credible due diligence, you knew this before. But make a decision when you did realize it. You don't go to the end of July, in hockey's no man's land (we'll call it "Miami," for short) and then make this move.

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You noted player personnel wins and losses... But didn't cover anything else. Understandably, I get it, but IMO there's a ton more behind being a good GM.

Looking at it from a fan perspective player personnel is about the only thing one could care about. But from an operations standpoint, or from an owners standpoint, generating $$ is all they ever put much emphasis on. Business, or rather being a successful business equals follow the money.

Something I brought up several years ago was the Wild, under Doug Risenbrough, were an economically successful team. The team never spent to the Cap but they had sellout after sellout. Contrary to some the previous ownership claimed they were losing money. Where have we heard that with the Minnesota North Stars? Hence, they left for Dallas and won a Stanley Cup, 2 Conference Titles, 2 Presidents Trophies and 8 Division Titles... They're doing well generating revenue. They were bought for $84 million in 1995 and are now valued at $525 million. The Dallas Stars are a prime example of spending more (wisely) can create residual earnings. Which is something the Minnesota North Stars never figured out.

Insert the Minnesota Wild. So under Robert Naegele, Jr., and GM Doug Risenbrough, as mentioned they ran a tight ship on spending. Wild fans here viewed them as cheap. The results as some pride themselves as describing, they're a successful team because they've had so many sellouts in a less than desirable "Hockey Market" because everyone here keeps reminding everyone (nationally) that Minnesota isn't a very good hockey market. (That's something I totally disagree with.) Minnesota probably has more hockey pucks and hockey arena's per capita than any other state or Canadian Providence... To match it's 'Land of 10,000 Lakes' boast.

Granted, it's a bit off-topic talking about Minnesota's hockey market, but in the grand scheme of things no one can match Minnesota's superior high school hockey programs or the number of successful college hockey programs... Fans following them could have gone to more North Stars games, or more Wild games... But why if neither of those teams have anything to show for their efforts except being on the losing end of highlight reels (nationwide)?

Okay, back on topic now that I've eliminated any just cause that Minnesota can't be a major hockey market.

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The more I'm thinking about this the more I'm coming to the conclusion it's not simply the coach but the result of the coach trying to compensate for the goaltending -- which is ultimately on Hextall.

The centers ARE a mess. And so is Ghost. Why? Because the centers are not staying low in the offensive zone and--Patrick and Coots in particular--not mucking it up in the slot to cheat back to hedge against being caught.

Ghost is doing less going low or pinching much for the same reason. It's possible they're doing this on their own. Whether deliberate or not, it's a natural response to the knowledge that any mistake, any odd man or often even man rush the other way will end up past the incompetent sieves in our net.

It's just as likely that this is per coach directive much for the same reason.

The question remains--bluntly--how does a competent GM look at his goaltending this past summer and not move to fix this while leaving $10M in cap space on the table?

How does that same competent GM go through the summer knowing he doesn't have a 3C and not move to correct that in any sober way? Again, with the $10M sitting there.

I know he doesn't want a contract that blocks kids and doesn't want to move said kids for it, but that effectively and explicitly tosses this season away.

Meanwhile, the tickets are still full price.

You see the results in the stands during the game. The last game, the stands had all the energy of a wake.

There was apparently zero thought of putting out a quality product this season. And there's no good reason for it.

I do like what Hextall has done with draft picks. But it sucks that the most exciting time of year is the lead up to the draft. Only to keep saying, "boy, in five years!"

I've been uncharacteristically calling for patience the last couple of years. Those who have been around for awhile--especially those from the silly.com days--know how out of character that really it. But the patience has waned. At this point, supplement through trade. Move out "leadership" that isn't leading.

Do SOMETHING other than punish kids you yourself have damaged only to bring up other soon to be damaged kids. Wake the hell up and get the lumina out of neutral and go get us some damn halibut!

We're starving!

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Gary Bettman who is the commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL) was brought in 30 years ago with one agenda, and that was to grow the game of hockey in the USA. In Canada the game of hockey is like a religion, with winters lasting 6 months all there is, is hockey. Fans are passionate and it's the number one sport. Football and baseball come second and third. Unfortunately for fans in Canada, no Canadian NHL team has won the Stanley Cup for 25 years since the Montreal Canadians have won.

This thesis will explain why no Canadian team will win the Stanley Cup until at least 2050.